Peter Thiel at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, in 2016. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images During a talk at Stanford University more than a decade ago, Peter Thiel said there was a 50 percent chance the next major tech firm would come up within a 5-mile radius of the school. That company was Facebook, and it was well within that distance. Now, the billionaire tech investor’s thinking has changed. On Thursday, Thiel said the chances of another Google sprouting in Silicon Valley are markedly lower. San Francisco and other “megacities,”…

Sam Altman, 32, is one of 25 people who are on a waiting list at Nectome, a start-up firm that promises to download a person’s brain onto a computer after death. But the only way to get the contents from the brain is for the person to be killed in a legal, doctor-assisted suicide – only available in America in five US states. Mr Altman is head of Y Combinator and OpenAI. He became a tech superstar in 2014 when he was appointed CEO of YC, a firm which has…

You’re reading the SN Military.Space newsletter we publish Tuesdays. If you would like to get our news and insights for military space professionals before everyone else, sign up here for your free subscription. HOT TOPIC: SECAF raises space awareness inside the Pentagon. Startups the stars of satellite industry’s annual DC tradeshow Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson revealed that she is having regular private meetings with her Army and Navy counterparts. The three secretaries made a joint appearance on Monday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. They said one…

Bose’s augmented reality sunglasses talk out loud to give you information about nearby bars or to help you practice your French. Shara Tibken/CNET I’ve never been on this street before, and I’m not really sure where I’m going. I reflexively reach for my phone to see where I am. But then I remember I don’t need it. That’s because I’m wearing Bose’s new augmented reality (AR) sunglasses. The prototype device, made from a 3D printer and packed with smarts and high-quality audio, made its debut at SXSW in Austin, Texas.…

Get the Mach newsletter. SUBSCRIBE Elon Musk first described his idea for a futuristic transportation system that would send passenger pods through tubes at speeds of hundreds of miles an hour back in 2013. At the time, the idea of actually building and operating a so-called “hyperloop” seemed far-fetched, to say the least. But hyperloops are no longer quite so hypothetical. A handful of firms are now competing to develop the necessary technology. And in addition to designing the magnetically levitated pods and testing them on small-scale tracks, the firms…

WASHINGTON — In a surprise shift, Eutelsat Communications, a staunch defender of geostationary satellites as the way forward, on March 8 said it is buying a low Earth orbit (LEO) demonstration nanosatellite. Another new entrant to LEO, Australia- and New Zealand-focused Optus Satellite is joining Canadian fleet operator Telesat in testing its LEO prototype satellite that launched in January. Paris-based Eutelsat and Optus bring to eight the number of geostationary satellite operators that are openly investing in, building, or partnering with non-geostationary satellite ventures, joining Intelsat, SES, Telesat, Sky Perfect Jsat,…

This article originally appeared in the Feb. 12, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine. The surge of new space companies in the last few years has impressed even veteran industry observers. “I’ve never seen the interest level so high to start new businesses,” said Hoyt Davidson, managing partner of investment banking company Near Earth LLC. “It’s a renaissance, a potential space renaissance.” Davidson, speaking on a panel about space investment at the Federal Aviation Administration’s annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington Feb. 8, cited the formation of dozens of new…

Get the Think newsletter. SUBSCRIBE Net neutrality is not dead; it’s not even dying. Bureaucrats and lobbyists picked a fight with the internet but, by the time we’re done, they’re going to wish they hadn’t. The Federal Communication Commission’s repeal of net neutrality hasn’t yet gone into effect, but Washington state just became the first state to enact its own strong law ensuring an open internet despite an onslaught of telecom lobbyists armed with misleading talking points. The bill soared through the state legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support. Dozens of…

Get the Mach newsletter. SUBSCRIBE Developing new medicines isn’t for the faint of heart. On average, it takes about a decade of research — and an expenditure of $2.6 billion — to shepherd an experimental drug from lab to market. And because of concerns over safety and effectiveness, only about 5 percent of experimental drugs make it to market at all. But drug makers and tech companies are investing billions of dollars in artificial intelligence with the hope that AI will make the drug discovery process faster and cheaper. “I…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A startup company has raised $18 million to provide broadband internet access from space using small satellites in geostationary orbit. San Francisco-based Astranis announced the Series A funding round March 1 led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Others participating in the funding round include Y Combinator, Fifty Years, Refactor Capital and Indicator Fund. The funding will go towards the development of the first in what the company plans to be dozens of smallsats that can each provide up to 10 gigabits per second…